Butter applicator

ABSTRACT

Two of the four parallel side walls of the butter applicator have arcuate edges to receive the surface of an ear of corn and have ledges extending inwardly and downwardly from their top edges, which ledges extend across the space between the other two parallel side walls and stop short of each other to define a slot adjacent to the surface of the ear of corn. To butter the ear of corn, the butter applicator is placed upon it with the arcuate edges of the two parallel side walls straddling the ear of corn and a pat of butter is placed in its upper end so that it slides downward with its edge contacting the surface of the ear of corn along the slot whereby the surface of the corn may be buttered by moving the butter applicator back and forth in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the ear of corn.

United States Patent Carlson [451 Mar. 28, 1972 [54] BUTTER APPLICATOR[72] Inventor: John W. Carlson, 6678 S. Acoma,

Littleton, Colo. 80120 [22] Filed: May 6, 1970 1211 Appl. M0 35,070

Primary Examiner-Robert W. Michell I Attorney-Vincent L. Carney [57]ABSTRACT Two of the four parallel side walls of the butter applicatorhave arcuate edges to receive the surface of an ear of corn and haveledges extending inwardly and downwardly from their top edges, whichledges extend across the space between the other two parallel side wallsand stop short of each other to define a slot adjacent to the surface ofthe ear of corn. To butter the ear of com, the butter applicator isplaced upon it with the arcuate edges of the two parallel side wallsstraddling the ear of com and a pat of butter is placed in its upper endso that it slides downward with its edge contacting the surface of theear of corn along the slot whereby the surface of the corn may bebuttered by moving the butter applicator back and forth in the directionof the longitudinal axis of the ear of corn.

7 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEDMAR28 m2 yc rc ZZ/Ccmsm-c BUTTERAPPLICATOR This invention relates to butter applicators and moreparticularly to butter applicators for buttering corn-on-the-cob.

One type of butter applicator is in the form of a receptacle having fourside walls, two of which have arcuate bottom edges that are adapted torest upon an ear of corn that is to be buttered. This type of butterapplicator includes at least one aperture in its bottom surface thatbutter placed within the butter applicator is melted by heat from theear of corn. The melted butter then flows upon the surface of the ear ofcorn to butter it.

In one prior art butter applicator of this type, the top of the butterapplicator may be opened and a pat of butter deposited therein. Thebottom surface of the butter applicator is curved and includes aplurality of apertures through which the butter flows as it melts.

This type of prior art butter applicator has a disadvantage in thataperture in the curved bottom of the butter applicator cause difficulty.The apertures become clogged and are difficult to keep clean. Moreover,the butter applicators of this type are somewhat difficult to form ofplastic by molding because a large number ofsmall pins are required inone of the dies, which pins are subject to damage during the moldingoperation.

Another prior art butter applicator of this type has a closed top and anopening in at least one side to receive a large stick of butter. Thebottom surface of the butter applicator includes a slot extending alongthe length of the butter applicator in a direction orthogonal to thearcuate bottom edges to be parallel to the longitudinal axis ofan ear ofcorn.

This type of prior art butter applicator has two primary disadvantages,which are: (1) it is relatively large since it must accommodate anentire stick of butter and this makes it expensive and difficult tohandle and (2) it is difficult to insert the butter because it does nothave an open top.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a novel butterapplicator.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a butter applicatorespecially suitable for buttering com-on-the-cob.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a butterapplicator having an open top to receive a pat of butter.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a butterapplicator that may be inexpensively formed.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a butterapplicator which is relatively small in size and can nevertheless beused to quickly butter an ear of corn.

In accordance with the above and further objects of the invention, abutter applicator is provided having four side walls and an open top andbottom. Two of the side walls are parallel to each other and includearcuate bottom edges adapted to straddle an ear of corn, with twoconnecting side walls connecting the edges transverse to thefirst-mentioned side walls. A different inwardly and downwardlyextending ledge is connected to the top edge of each of the two parallelside walls, with the ledges extending across the space between theconnecting side walls and stopping short of each other to define a slotin the bottom of the butter applicator which slot is located higher thanthe apex of the curves of the two arcuate edges. The butter applicatoris made of plastic by injection molding and is of appropriate size toaccommodate a single pat of butter.

To use the butter applicator, it is first placed upon an ear of cornwith the arcuate edges of the parallel side walls straddling the ear ofcom. A pat of butter is then placed in the open top so that it slidesdownwardly on one of the ledges until its edge abuts the ear of corn.The butter applicator is then moved back and forth in a directionparallel to the longitudinal axis of the ear of corn whereby the buttermelts and is spread upon the corn. The ear of corn may be turned andbutter spread across the different longitudinal surface until the ear ofcorn is fully buttered.

The above noted and other features of the invention will be betterunderstood from the following detailed description when considered inconnection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a butter applicator constructed inaccordance with the invention shown as it is used to butter a cob ofcorn;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the butter applicator of FIG. 1 withoutthe ear of corn;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the butter applicator;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the butter applicator;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the butter applicator taken along lines5-5 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the butter applicator taken along lines 66of FIG. 3.

As best shown in the perspective views of FIGS. 1 and 2, the butterapplicator 10 is generally in the shape of a parallelepiped having fourside walls 12, 14, 16, and 18 with the side walls 12 and 16 beingparallel to each other and having their ends connected by the mutuallyparallel transversely extending side walls 14 and 18. The parallel sidewalls 12 and 16 each include one of the arcuate edge surfaces 20 and 22(FIG. 6) adapted to receive an ear of corn such as 24 shown in FIGS. 1and 5.

To receive a pat of butter 26 (FIGS. 1 and 5) the butter applicator 10has an open top 28. Within the butter applicator 10 is a first inwardlyand downwardly extending ledge 30 attached at its upper end to the sidewall 12 adjacent to the opening 28 and an inwardly and downwardly turnedledge 32 attached at its upper end to the side wall 16 adjacent to theopen end 28. The ledges 30 and 32 extend across the space between theparallel walls 14 and 18 to which they are transverse and stop short ofeach other at their lower ends to define a slot 34 extending between theparallel walls 14 and 18 at a location level with the top of the curvedsurfaces 20 and 22 so as to be adjacent to the ear of corn when thebutter applicator is in use.

The entire butter applicator 10 may be formed of any suitable plastic ina single injection molding operation with very little labor. It is ofsufficient size to accommodate a single pat of butter and is relativelysmall compared to a typical ear of corn. Generally it is preferred thatit occupy a space of less than 5 cubic inches for convenient handlingand storage. In the preferred embodiment the butter applicator 10 is l%l %X I 5% inches with each side wall being 1%Xl% inches so that theheight of the butter applicator is approximately 1% inches. The slot 34is 9/16 inches wide and located inches from the bottom of the butterapplicator 10. The edges 20 and 22 have a 1 inch radius of curvature andextend inches from the bottom of the butter applicator 10.

In operation, the butter applicator 10 is mounted to an ear of corn suchas 24 shown in FIG. 1 with the arcuate edges 20 and 22 of the side walls12 and 16 receiving the curved surface of the ear of com 24. The pat ofbutter 26 is then deposited in the open top 28 whereupon it rests uponone of the inwardly and downwardly turned edges 30 or 32 as shown inFIG. 5 with the edge of the pat of butter 26 abutting the surface of theear of com 24.

The butter applicator 10 is then moved along the top surface of the earof corn so that the butter is spread evenly along its surface. When onelongitudinal portion of the surface of the ear of corn has beenbuttered, the ear of corn is turned while maintaining the butterapplicator l0 stationary until a fresh surface is beneath the slot 34.The butter applicator 10 is then again moved along the lateral surfaceof the ear of corn to butter a new portion of it.

Because the butter applicator 10 is made of plastic in one piece, it maybe made in quantities by injection molding, thus enabling it to beinexpensively produced. There are no small apertures in the butterapplicator 10 and therefore there is no need for a large number ofmolding pins which are expensive and sometimes broken in the moldingapparatus.

Since the top 28 of the butter applicator 10 is open, it is easy todeposit a pat of butter 26 into it. Since the slot 34 extendsorthogonally to the longitudinal axis of the ear of corn when the butterapplicator 10 is mounted upon the surface of the ear of com, the slotcovers a wide area and the butter applicator may be moved back and forthlongitudinally to cover this area. In this manner an ear of corn isquickly and conveniently buttered without the necessity of an expensiveand difficult to handle butter applicator that extends across the entirelength of the ear of corn and has a slot along its length.

Although a specific embodiment of the invention has been described withsome particularity, many modifications and variations in the embodimentare possible in the light of the above teachings. Therefore, it is to beunderstood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the inventionmay be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed is:

1. A butter applicator comprising a receptacle having an open top, saidreceptacle including:

an elongated slot in its bottom surface;

a first side wall having a first top edge;

a second side wall parallel to said first side wall and having a secondtop edge;

a first inwardly and downwardly extending ledge attached to said firsttop edge; and

a second inwardly and downwardly extending ledge attached to the secondtop edge;

said first and second ledges defining said slot between their distaledges.

2. A butter applicator according to claim 1 in which said first andsecond parallel side walls each include a different arcuate bottom edgeadapted to straddle an ear of corn.

3. A butter applicator according to claim 2 in which said corn butterapplicator occupies a space of less than 5 cubic inches.

4. A butter applicator according to claim 3 and further comprising thirdand forth parallel side walls connecting the side edges of saidfirst-mentioned two parallel side walls and extending transversethereto.

5. A butter applicator according to claim 4 which comprises a plasticmaterial of uniform composition.

6. A butter applicator according to claim 5 having a height ofapproximately 1% inches.

7. A butter applicator according to claim 5 in which the side walls eachhave a width of approximately 1% inches.

1. A butter applicator comprising a receptacle having an open top, saidreceptacle including: an elongated slot in its bottom surface; a firstside wall having a first top edge; a second side wall parallel to saidfirst side wall and having a second top edge; a first inwardly anddownwardly extending ledge attached to said first top edge; and a secondinwardly and downwardly extending ledge attached to the second top edge;said first and second ledges defining said slot between their distaledges.
 2. A butter applicator according to claim 1 in which said firstand second parallel side walls each include a different arcuate bottomedge adapted to straddle an ear of corn.
 3. A butter applicatoraccording to claim 2 in which said corn butter applicator occupies aspace of less than 5 cubic inches.
 4. A butter applicator according toclaim 3 and further comprising third and forth parallel side wallsconnecting the side edges of said first-mentioned two parallel sidewalls and extending transverse thereto.
 5. A butter applicator accordingto claim 4 which comprises a plastic material of uniform composition. 6.A butter applicator according to claim 5 having a height ofapproximately 1 3/8 inches.
 7. A butter applicator according to claim 5in which the side walls each have a width of approximately 1 3/4 inches.